Celtic vs Rangers: Old Firm key battles analyzed ahead of Celtic Park clash | Football news
Two points apart Celtic and Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership, so where can Saturday’s Old Firm clash be won or lost?
Rangers made the trip to Celtic Park knowing that defeat would be a dent in their championship hopes even at the start of the season.
Ibrox’s side are actually unbeaten in four of their last five visits to Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership, so ahead of Saturday’s encounter, WhoScored.com will pick four key head-to-heads that could determine who who has bragging rights this weekend.
Josip Juranovic vs James Tavernier
As far as full-backs for the Old Firm are concerned, all eyes will no doubt be on Rangers captain James Tavernier, but Josip Juranovic certainly has his part to play for Celtic. The 27-year-old has been a top choice for Celtic since his arrival last summer and his versatility is key, being able to play at full-back as well. The Croatia international has settled in at right-back this season and that will see him face off against Ryan Kent and compatriot Borna Barisic.
Juranovic’s role in the team is not the same as Tavernier’s, but he has joined the Old Firm in fine form in front of goal with one goal and one assist in his last two outings. Crucially, however, he completed six of his seven attempted tackles in the Scottish Premiership this season. He’ll need to be at his best defensively to keep the Rangers attack quiet to limit the number of passes they can put into the danger zone.
Meanwhile, Rangers coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst will encourage Tavernier to make his presence felt in the opposing half as often as possible.
The 30-year-old’s output makes Trent Alexander-Arnold look average. In the last three Scottish Premier League campaigns, Tavernier, a right-back, has directly played at least nine more goals than any other player (42) and he has four goals and assists. in 5 games in the 2022/23 season.
Callum McGregor vs John Lundstram
Callum McGregor has taken on his new role under Ange Postecoglou as duck meets water, thriving in Celtic’s midfield since the end of last season. It’s a less flashy role than he’s ever played, but equally important. After directly scoring 10 goals in the 2020/21 league campaign as No 8, he has only scored 4 goals and assists in the previous term and is yet to leave his mark on the game. the last third of this term.
Instead of ending the attacks, he is starting them. The Celtic captain has averaged 75.4 passes per game this season and his pass accuracy is 91%. However, there are still improvements coming from the 29-year-old, as WhoScored’s rating is only 6.64, which is quite good by the standards set in the previous two seasons.
John Lundstram has struggled to land a role for Rangers after he signed for the first time from Sheffield United in the summer of 2021. It was initially expected he would be a box-midfielder- to-box, but since settling into Rangers’ midfield, he has truly established himself as an important player for the club, especially during his Europa League spell last season , and that continued under Van Bronckhorst.
The 28-year-old’s main responsibility now is to disrupt opposition play and keep things steady for Rangers when they have the ball, as exemplified by him sitting fourth in the table for passes per game this season ( 77,4) and lead 4. of them are all centre-backs. His pass success rate of 90.7% proves he is effective with the ball, but he doesn’t just play short passes. Return rate of 6.2 long balls per game ranks third among all Premier League players and shows he has a good passing range to help Rangers go from back to front. Quickly and accurately. On the defensive side, Lundstram doesn’t dive into challenges as shown by shooting just 0.6 tackles per game, but instead uses his ability to read the game to break possession, demonstrated by 1.2 interceptions per game.
Jota vs Ryan Kent
With seven goals in five league games, Celtic winger Jota is WhoScored.com’s highest-rated player in the Scottish Premiership to date (8.12). The 23-year-old, who scored in the last meeting between the two sides, has been a defender’s nightmare this season. Jota has completed the most dribbles (11) and created the most scoring opportunities (15) this season. Not only that, but the Celtic winger has been responsible for 19% of all passes this season (3/18). Jota’s good form actually extends back to last season since the start of the year. The record of 13 goals and assists during that time is the most of any player in the league.
What Postecoglou would arguably appreciate more than Jota’s output is his willingness to work hard. The former Portugal Under-21 international is averaging two tackles per game this season and has the third most possession in attack of any player in the Scottish Premiership (7), allowing Celtic stay strong in the game.
If Jota returns to the right-hand side on Saturday, he will face off against Rangers chief creative officer Ryan Kent. The 25-year-old hasn’t had a brilliant start to the season like his opposing figures, but he is just as important for Rangers when it comes to breaking down opposition defences. Kent has provided three assists in as many appearances for Rangers this season, averaging once more (every 77 minutes) than Jota (103 minutes). Only Jota has achieved three important passes per game in the Scottish Premiership this season.
However, creativity may not be enough from Kent in this match. It is important to have goalscoring players all over the pitch and Rangers cannot rely solely on Antonio Colak as their source of scoring. The problem for Kent is that he hasn’t scored in the league since December and has only hit the target with six of his subsequent 46 scoring attempts.
Kyogo Furuhashi vs Antonio Colak
Kyogo Furuhashi has been revealed since joining Celtic in early 2021 and entered the weekend action as the top scorer in the Scottish Premiership with six goals in five games. Furuhashi has an impressive scoring record overall for Celtic with 14 goals in 17 appearances for the club. The Japan international has scored against seven of the 12 teams he has faced in the Scottish Premiership but will be looking for his first goal for the Old Firm on Saturday.
Furuhashi couldn’t have hoped for better form in the first derby of the season having scored in all of Celtic’s last four games, including a hat-trick in last weekend’s 9-0 thrashing of Dundee United . He’s also the third-highest WhoScored.com player in the league (7.37) thanks to scoring seven goals (six goals, one assist) in five league games for the campaign.
Antonio-Mirko Colak has started running for Rangers since his summer move from Greece’s PAOK team. The Croatia international has scored four goals in his first five games after netting a brace in Rangers’ 4-0 win over Ross County at the weekend.
However, the 28-year-old faces his toughest test this weekend, as Celtic have had a perfect start to the season with five wins from five and conceding just one goal. . Colak has also yet to score an away league goal for Rangers, with all four of his goals coming to Ibrox.